REVISED
WSS 260 /HIS
259 History of Women & Social Change
Instructor: Laurie Kozakiewicz, Office: Ten Broeck 308-1
Spring 2004, University at
Albany
Office Hours Tues/Thurs
11:30 – 12:30
This course introduces
students to the political, economic, social, and cultural forces that shaped
the lives of women in America from the Colonial Period to the present. It also looks at women’s impact on the
growth and development of the United States.
Attention will be given to the ways in which race and gender have
influenced women’s status. The first
half of the course takes a roughly chronological approach to the analysis of
women and American society. The second
half of the course spends more time on special topics, including family, work,
cultural attitudes, policy issues, and women’s organized activism. Course requirements include a mid-term
examination and a final, two written assignments and one oral presentation
(described below).
Required
Texts.
Students are expected to have all texts. Tests, class discussions, and writing assignments are based on them.
Main Texts:
Evans, Sara. Born for Liberty a History of Women in America, 1997 edition.
Kerber, Linda and Sharon De Hart. Women’s America 6th Edition 2004.
Additional Texts:
--White, Deborah Gray, Ar’n’t I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South
--Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique, 2001 edition.
E
Reserves: Some
of the reading is available only in this format. Use Link from University Libraries web page for E Reserves. Look the course up by my name and/or course
number. Password for accessing the
material is Suffrage.
Other
internet materials: Some of the reading
is available via links embedded in the syllabus. The URL address for the syllabus on line is http://www.albany.edu/faculty/lk0550
Course
requirements include attendance at all class lectures, completion of all
written assignments, participation in class discussions, and completion of a
mid-term and final examination.
Portions
of the course will be in lecture form.
Students are responsible for all information presented in class. Students are expected to attend all sessions
and take notes. I do not share my notes
or make copies for students.
Students
will be put into groups and assigned responsibility for leading the class once
during the semester. Groups and
specific day assignments will be made at the first class. On their assigned day, the group will review
that day’s assigned material with the class and facilitate a discussion of the
readings. Some time will be available
during the first two classes for groups to begin planning their
presentations. I encourage students to
meet outside of class to prepare as well.
Part
of your grade will be based my evaluation of your participation in discussions
of the assigned reading. Completing
assigned reading gives you some up-front familiarity with the day’s topic. I encourage you to ask questions and offer
comments during the lectures. In
addition, there will be at least two class sessions devoted specifically to
discussing the additional texts. You
will also write papers on those books.
I hope for thoughtful comments that contribute to lively, stimulating
discussions on those days.
The
course grade for each student will be determined as follows. The midterm exam will be 25% of the total
course grade; the final will be 25% of the total course grade; each writing
assignments will be 15% of the total course grade (total 30%); the oral group
presentation will be 15% of the total course grade. Finally class participation, including attendance, will be 5% of
the total course grade.
Cheating
will have serious consequences.
Cheating on a specific assignment/test will, at minimum, result in a
failing grade for that assignment.
Repeated cheating will result in an “E” for the course.
Plagiarizing will have serious consequences.
Plagiarizing is the use of the words or ideas of someone else as if they
were your own. The way to avoid
accusations of plagiarism is to ALWAYS cite properly. Both direct quotes and paraphrasing require full and proper
citation. Please see me if you have any
questions about whether what you are doing may be violating these rules. Plagiarism on a specific assignment will
result, at minimum, in a failing grade for the assignment. Repeated plagiarism will result in an “E”
for the course.
Attendance does matter. The course is structured so that you cannot do well without being here. I will monitor attendance. I reserve the right to factor a student’s attendance record into the determination of the final course grade. Be courteous. If necessary, I will ask a disruptive student to leave the class. Anyone asked to leave will need to speak with me privately before returning.
Class Session Outline
1/22 Introduction: Class Requirements & Themes for the Course
1/27 America’s
Earliest Women – Settlement through the Colonial Era 1607-1773
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Ulrich p 45; Norton p. 69; Trial of Anne Hutchinson p. 79; Karlsen p. 83
Evans: Chapters 1 & 2
1/29 Women and the Birth of the American Nation: Revolutionary Mothers
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Documents: supporting the Revolution p. 114 & 115 & 117; Kerber p. 119
Evans: Chapter 3
2/3 Woman’s
Lives Under the New Nation 1783-1850: Redefining Public & Private Lives By
Gender
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Boyston p. 153; Rosenberg p. 168
Evans Chapter 4
2/5 Exploring Women’s Quest for Economic and Legal Rights in the 19th Century
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Document: working conditions in the early factory p. 165; Documents: Documents: Married Women’s Property Act p. 217; Pascoe p. 275
Essay: Thomas Dublin “Women
Workers in the Lowell Mills”
2/10 Exploring
the Impact of Race on Women’s Lives in the New Nation
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Documents: Testimony of Slave Women p. 132; Block p. 135
Paper
Due on Ar’n’t I a Woman
2/12 Exploring Women’s Public Activism in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries
Essay:
Steven Buechler “The Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement”
Essay:Paula Baker “White
Women’s ‘Separate Sphere’ and their Political Role”
Website: Oberlin Women and Antebellum Social Movements, Abstract
2/19 America Divided: 1848-1870; Early Women’s Rights Movement
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Documents Claiming Rights I Grimke p. 193; Documents: Claiming Rights II Declaration of Sentiments p. 198; Wellman p. 200; Documents: After the Civil War p. 247-251; Document: Women’s Centennial Agenda p. 265
Evans: Chapter 5
Essay
Catharine Beecher & Harriet Beecher Stowe “Why Women Should Not Seek the
Vote”
2/24 Women as Reformers, Gilded Age and Progressive Era 1880-1920
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Sklar p. 327; Document: Protecting Women Wage Workers p. 340 & 342
Evans: Chapter 6
Website: The Juvenile Court Law in Iowa, 1904, Abstract
2/26 Women as Reformers Continued: divided by class, race, geography
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Schechter p.
268; Gilmore p. 286
Essay: Eileen Boris “Black and White
Women Bring the Power of Motherhood to Politics”
Document: Mary Church
Terrell “Club Work of Colored Women” & “Lynching from a Negroes point of
view”
3/2 The Fight for Suffrage: 1890-1920
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Dubois p. 358; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship I pp 365 & 367
Evans: Chapter 7 section on “New Life in the Suffrage Movement” to the end
Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Free Online Library
Website: Lobbying for Passage of the National Suffrage Amendment, Abstract
3/4 Suffrage continued & review for mid-term
3/9 MID-TERM EXAMINATION
3/11 Across the Great Divide: women, politics & the struggle for legal & economic equality 1920s & 1930s
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Cott p. 379; Jones p. 429; Kessler-Harris p. 435
Reading: Evans: Chapters 8 & 9
Website: Equal Rights Debate in the 1920s, Abstract
3/16 The Modern Woman (20th ), changing images of sexuality; consumerism and sexuality
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Brumberg p. 390; Bordo p. 660
Evans: Chapter 7 Beginning to section “New Life in the Suffrage Movement”
Essay Maxine Craig
Introduction to Ain’t I a Beauty Queen
Reading: No More Miss America!
3/23 Film “Killing Us Softly”
3/25 The
Modern Woman’s quest for sexual independence
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Mohr p. 183; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship I, Sanger p. 370; Regan p. 423
Website: Mary Ware Dennett's Congressional Lobbying Efforts for Contraception, Abstract
3/30 Limits
and Opportunities: Women and War
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Matsumoto p 459; Milkmann p. 466
Evans: Chapter 10
Essay:
Varlerie Matsumoto “Japanese American Women During World War II”
4/1 Images
of Women in Cold War America
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Swerdlow p. 500; Douglas p. 569
Evans: Chapter 11
Essay: Donna Penn “The Meanings of Lesbianism in
Postwar America”
Essay: “From Rosie to
Lucy”
4/13 Gender and Civil Rights
Film “Fannie Lou Hamer”
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Payne p. 532; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship II, Murray p. 537 & Civil Rights Act p. 550
Evans: 263-273
4/15 Moving Towards a Revitalized Feminism
Discussion:
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
Paper
Due
4/20 Feminism Reborn
Film “Step by Step”
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Documents: Making the Personal Political, Chavez p. 583 & Combahee Collective p. 586 & Schafly p. 593; De Hart p. 598
Evans: Chapter 12
Essay:
Joanne Meyerowitz “Competing Images of Women in Postwar Mass Culture”
NOW Statement of Purpose- 1966
4/22 Exploring
Women’s Quest for Legal Rights in the 20th Century: Jury Service,
Military Service
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship II: Hoyt v. Florida p. 546; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship III: ERA p. 624 & Frontiero v. Richardson p. 628; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship IV: 1st American Women p. 637 & Rostker v. Goldberg p. 641; Francke p. 647
Essay: Kate O’Beirne “An Army of
Jessicas”
4/27 Exploring
Contentious Issues: Abortion; Welfare;
domestic violence
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Bailey p. 560; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship III: Roe v Wade p. 630; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenshiop IV: Meritor v. Vinson p. 643 & Violence Against Women Act p. 646; Lakoff p. 670; Adair p. 677;
Website: The 1994 Violence Against Women Act, Abstract
4/29 Exploring Contentious Issues: Affirmative Action
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Cahn p. 508; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship: Title IX p. 625; Documents: the Changing Workplace: 657 & 660
Too Strong for a WomanThe Five Words That Created Title IX
5/4 Women at the Millenium: Assessing Progress politically
Film “Running Mate”
Reading: Kerber & De Hart: De Hart p. 691
Evans: Chapter 13